The Band Concert
The Band Concert is a 1935 American animated short film produced in 3-strip Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The film was the first Mickey Mouse film produced in colorTwo more Mickey Mouse films were produced in black and white before they were produced in color on a permanent basis: Mickey's Service Station and Mickey's Kangaroo. Also Mickey had previously appeared in color in a two minute clip called Parade of the Award Nominees which was made especially for the 1932 Academy Awards ceremony. and remains one of the most highly acclaimed of the Disney shorts. The story is about a small music band conducted by Mickey Mouse which struggles through a distraction-filled public performance. Plot Mickey Mouse's orchestra is performing a concert at the park. As the film opens they are being applauded for having just played music from Zampa. They next begin Rossini's ''William Tell'' overture.The overture was significantly abridged to account for events in the film. It was also played out of order, starting with the "Finale" (the "Lone Ranger" segment), continuing with the Ranz des Vaches "Daybreak" movement, and ending with the "Prelude" and "Storm" movements. Mickey is first disturbed by Peter Pig's vibrato trumpet and Paddy Pig's tuba playing Prelude: Dawn. Later Donald Duck appears rolling a vendor cart through the audience selling lemonade, popcorn, and ice cream. Donald's voice disturbs Mickey as he can be heard over the music. Donald then pulls out a small flute and hops up on stage uninvited. As the band is still playing the "Finale" segment, Donald begins playing "Turkey in the Straw" at the same tempo as the band. The entire band, seemingly unaware of themselves, begin to play Donald's song instead of the prepared music. Mickey angrily breaks Donald's flute, but he only produces another from his clothing. This continues for a while until it is discovered that Donald is carrying dozens of hidden flutes, some of which he seems to pull from thin air. After Donald has been kicked off stage, a bee comes along and harasses him. Donald fights the bee off and it goes on to bother the already agitated Mickey. Mickey's swatting of the bee is taken as a cue from the orchestra. Donald later throws ice cream at the bee which hits Mickey, instead. As Mickey plays Ranz des Vaches, Horace Horsecollar tries to kill the bee with a hammer but hits Goofy on the head, driving his head down into his jacket, but he continues playing his clarinet from inside it. Finally, the band comes to the "Storm" segment of the overture which seems to summon an actual tornado, prompting the audience, the seats, and Donald to run for their lives. The tornado sucks up everything in its path, even the pavilion on which the band is playing. But the band is so used to distractions by this point that they continue to play from inside the tornado (in which Mickey floats past the remains of a wrecked house). As the storm passes, the band (except Horace and Mickey) is thrown into a tree and the overture comes to its natural conclusion. Yet by this time the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck who applauds enthusiastically. He then produces one last flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw" again, but the band members throw their instruments at him in disgust. The band *Mickey Mouse - Conductor *Goofy - Clarinet *Unnamed dogAppeared as Gideon Goat in promotional materials (http://d23.disney.go.com/articles/022510_NF_FEAT_BandConcert.html) - Trombone *Clarabelle Cow - Flute *Horace Horsecollar - Percussion *Peter Pig - Trumpet *Paddy Pig - Tuba Category:VHS Category:Mickey Mouse short films Category:Disney shorts